September 29, 2008

Astute students of history have noted, weather is not something politicians should take lightly. The presidency of William Henry Harrison, indeed Harrison's life lasted a mere month after after he caught a cold at his inauguration, which was held outside on a chilly Washington morning.

According to Wikipedia, by the way, the conventional wisdom that Harrison's inauguration speech precipitated his death, reiterated by ABC, is false. Harrison showed no signs of ill health for three weeks after that speech, and the proximate cause appears to have been being caught in a rain shower that pushed a cold into pneumonia.

"Sometimes the skies look cloudy and it's dark. And you think the rains will never pass," Obama preached, "The young people understand that the clouds -– these too will pass, that a brighter day will come."

He preached. The messaih has spoken. Can he part a sea or a river or something?

Lemme see: We've had eight presidents die in office, four due to assassination (though two hung on a while), one due to heart attack, one due to cerebral hemmorrhage, one due to gastroenteritis (various speculations as to cause) and one due to pneumonia/pleurisy.

Gee, I wonder if worrying about getting caught in the rain ought to be at the top of the list of things not to take lightly. Only sayin'.

An interesting post from a Canadian, Diane Francis, who sees the financial crisis as just a symptom of a greater problem of America in decline mired in an 18th Century system it can't modernize and remain competitive anymore with.

The U. S. system is not only corruptible but inefficient. The Presidential race has lasted more than 18 months while the Congressional races, frankly, never end. The House of Representative seats are up for grabs every two years as is one-third of the Senate.

This guarantees that politics, not policy, are pre-eminent; that compromise, not principle, is first and foremost and that influence peddling never, ever ends.

Some may say this has always been the case and the United States has become a rich and free nation. But markets, and terrorists, and voters, never wait and operate in real time.

The economic crisis will pass, but America's biggest crisis is the fact that Washington is an 18th Century American political system operating in the 21st. century.

And this is now blatantly obvious.

In a Parliamentary system, a crisis is dealt with by caucus, cabinet and experts. In the corporate world, CEOs and boards make rapid-fire decisions to changes in market or political conditions. If the U. S. was a company, it would be bust already because it couldn't react immediately.

Meanwhile, Rome burns, and in the corridors of power in Washington and on the stump, there is only politics, showbiz, and brinkmanship.

How about a "presidential deaths" tag? And if you listed each of the eight presidents who died in office, you could also have Zachary Taylor, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and Warren G. Harding. (I'm assuming--though I have not checked--that you already have tags for Abraham Lincoln, FDR and JFK.)

I notice he does this shirt sleeve rollup thing to appear as a man of action.

I noticed one campaign event where he was videoed doing the shirtsleeve-rollup-running-up-the-stairs- leading-to-the-platform thing. I'm assuming it's intended to contrast his youth and energy with his aging and arthritic opponent.

Diane Francis' column, linked by Cedarford, is going to be entered into the record as exhibit 'B' - just behind Larry Sabato's book - as to why those who would make it easier to amend the constitution must be resisted. Make it easier to amend, and it will be amended, usually precipitously, and usually with poor results. There is nothing wrong with the underlying system, and a system that resists the wanton tinkering of rationalists who each think themselves able to "improve" the system has advantages.

I'm still chuckling over the "astute students of history" bit. By Jove, these clowns are too clever by half!

***

By the way, a big "ugh" to this: "I know some of you got a little damp," Obama told the audience gathered in the school quad. "I’d like to cover everybody’s dry cleaning bill here tonight, but I can’t because I got to use it on the campaign, so consider it one more modest contribution to our efforts to change the country."

Thank God Obama was there because Joe's not really an adult. Because even in his 60's, Joe can't be trusted to understand the danger. So the nanny state strikes because, well, Obama knows best. Now just give him the economy and he will guide you to salvation....

Seriously, we have to remain vigilant and not allow the Cedarfords of the country to get their claws anywhere near the Constitution. They can smell a wounded animal. That's when they pounce. You think Obama and the lefties are bad for the country? Wait till they team up with the Cedarfords.

Palladian said... Seriously, we have to remain vigilant and not allow the Cedarfords of the country to get their claws anywhere near the Constitution. They can smell a wounded animal. That's when they pounce. You think Obama and the lefties are bad for the country? Wait till they team up with the Cedarfords.

12:33 PM

You may say this jokingly, but I wholeheartedly agree. They will eventually team up because they have more in common than anyone cares to point out.

You want to play that game? James Buchanan was the greatest ever! Why? Well he was the only President from my home state of Pennsylvania, he sort of allowed the Civil War to happen, which eventually led to the end of slavery, he might possibly have been a homosexual and Andrew Jackson called him "Aunt Fancy".

Some of us have seen this image before; RFK created the iconic rolled up sleeves campaign image. RFK allowed his cufflinks to be caged as he worked the crowds hand-to-hand and then he'd roll up his sleeves.

It worked well to connect Kennedy to young and working class voters in a more formal buttoned-down era.

The media of course knows the image well so it's no surprise they would lap it up.

By the way, speaking of history even if off-topic, has anyone else been watching the value of their pension plans and investments take a plunge during the House vote and on its speculated result? I'd toss out a figure just on one stock alone (one having NOTHING to do with the relevant sectors, I hasten to say), but it's heart-stopping enough without putting it in writing.

William Henry Harrison, if you mean length of term, at 32 days. James Madison, if you mean height, at 5'4". If you mean short in another way, that can only be speculation, but I'd nominate James Buchanan for that honor if I had to choose. Aunt Fancy indeed.

Palladian said... William Henry Harrison, if you mean length of term, at 32 days. 1:16 PM

He's the greatest then.

Palladian said... James Madison, if you mean height, at 5'4". If you mean short in another way, that can only be speculation, but I'd nominate James Buchanan for that honor if I had to choose. Aunt Fancy indeed.

As I told a reporter for the New York Daily News last week there is a place to put you money that is much better than mutual funds, real estate or under the mattress. That is in high end woman's clothing that is avialable at Lee Lee's Valise. We have our Anna Scholz fall collection in the stoe and it would be a great move for the canny investor. Invest in a great garment for your wife or mother and she will be a lot happier than any shares of WaMu or AIG you might have laying around.

Madison also reportedly had the largest penis of all the Presidents. It was the result of an unfortunate curse put upon him when he was the envoy to the Barbary Pirates. A withered old crone said that his penis would grow every time someone sucked on it but for every inch he gained in his penis he would lose an inch of height. So he had to pick his spots.

Although he had withered to 4 four feet 2 inches at his death his penis was reportedly 98 inches long.

I saw Eurymthics at Red Rocks. Immediately before they came on it began to rain. The air is so dry, evening showers rarely last long. Now, you'd think Lennox would have had the wit to re-arrange her set to begin with Here Comes the Rain Again, but no, she wasn't that clever and so she missed a chance to have the whole place cheer her good humor.

Trevor Jackson said..."I've been thinking about congressional term limits a lot lately."

I go back and forth on this. I think that term limits have some problems, but the trade off just about makes it worth it, so long as the model is that you can serve X years contiguously, or you can serve up to Y years out of Z years, rather than an outright prohibition. You want to leave open the possibility that the people can choose to send back someone who is genuinely really good, while defeating the advantages of incumbency. I would apply this to the Senate as well, even though I want to go back to indirect election whereafter the problem is likely to be somewhat less acute.

Of course, the difficulty is, how do you get Congress to go along with it? The 17th Amendment was forced when the Senate was presented by the nightmare scenario of nearly enough states applying to call a convention to push that amendment through, but I don't believe in playing chicken. Don't count on self-interested legislators to flinch.

What if only one of the two senate seats in each state were term-limited? During a primary for the unlimited-term senate seat, the senator who occupied the term-limited seat could also run for the nomination.

Trevor - I think that it's the House that's in more desperate need than the Senate. The problem in the House is that you have the problems of unlimited incumbency amplified with the problem of redistricting. In the Senate, you're stuck with a statewide electorate. If redistricting could be dealt with, term limits would be less important, and redistricting seems institutionally more simple to put into effect.

My position is to favor a return to selection of the Senate by state legislators and to impose a rule that no federal legislator shall serve more than twelve consecutive years in any fourteen.

Nice picture. Clearly he is calling his shot. So did he hit it over the wall? Was little Billy in the hospital granted his promised home run? The article doesn't say.

Speaking of James Buchanan, one of my ancestors was his "Miss Nancy". Speaking of short, William Rufus deVane King (miss nancy) the shortest serving VP who didn't move up to be president. He did our family proud.

I have ridden my bike in the rain while only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I await my coronation.

"Now, you'd think Lennox would have had the wit to re-arrange her set to begin with Here Comes the Rain Again, but no, she wasn't that clever and so she missed a chance to have the whole place cheer her good humor."

I saw the Flaming Lips and Ween at red rock. Had it started to rain, I doubt if it could have made it thru the marijuana smoke. However, the audience was already well stocked up in good humor. As was both bands.